N/A
Many states have passed laws that mandate the use of a child safety seat for children up to the age of four years old. In recent years, an increasing number of vehicles have been equipped with passenger-side airbags with the expectation that all automobiles produced in the United States will be so equipped, and by 1999, passenger-side airbags will be federally mandated for all new vehicles, including light trucks.
Although child seat manufacturers routinely warn purchasers to secure the child safety seat in the center of the rear-seat when there is an airbag in the car, it is not uncommon for the seat to be placed in the front, passenger-side seat. However, rear-facing infants in the back seat, when alone with the driver, often cause distractions which contribute to or cause crashes. In addition, recent Government data shows that in numerous rear-end crashes, front seats break and hurt, or even kill, children in the back seat. For the sake of safety alone, if not for passenger side airbag, then rearfacing infants should be placed in the front seat to avoid distractions from the back seat which contribute to crashes and to allow for infant driver eye contact thus adding to the infant""s feeling of security. That not withstanding, the failure to follow the manufacturer""s instructions presents a serious safety risk to an infant in a rearfacing safety seat positioned in front of a passenger side air bag.
A significant body of data has shown that the interaction between a rear facing infant seat and a front passenger-side airbag can result in excessive head and chest acceleration, causing serious and perhaps fatal injury to an infant occupant. For example, the airbag/seat interaction produces accelerations of an infant""s head exceeding 100 G""s at bag impact and Head Injury Criterion (HIC) values ranging from 650 to 1300. By contrast, rear facing seats not experiencing airbag interaction produce head accelerations of about 50 G""s and HIC values less than 1000 and generally around 650 when crash tested at a standardized test speed of 48 km/hr. The Child Restraint Air Bag Interaction (CRABI) task force recommends 390 HIC as the top acceptable number for infant safety. One reason that it has not been possible to meet the HIC recommendations is that current infant restraint systems use hard plastics.
Further research has shown that in some cases there is an interaction between the rear facing infant seat installed in the back seat and a front passenger seat back, particularly when an adult occupies the front seat. In case of a rear collision, the impact causes the front passenger seat to collapse and come in contact with the infant seat, transmitting forces that need to be cushioned. Such forces can be greatly exacerbated by the presence of a passenger in the front passenger seat.
Infants are usually transported in rear facing car seats and in many cases it is desired to remove the cradle of the rear facing car seat to transport the infant to other locations such as a grocery cart, restaurant, etc. Current methods to solve this need have required removing the entire seat as one piece or have required that the cradle first be released from the frame using releases on both sides of the cradle and then the cradle be lifted from the frame. These motions have been awkward for parents.
As part of the cradle, a handle is usually incorporated to facilitate removal of the cradle from the car seat and to provide a convenient way to carry the cradle. Such handles are usually adapted to lift the cradle in only one particular way, rather than being versatile. When transporting the cradle a distance, the handles require the carrier to assume an awkward arm and hand position relative to the center of gravity of the infant.
Infants are usually transported in rear facing car seats, and as the infant grows and becomes larger, they are typically migrated into forward facing car seats. Usually this requires the purchase of a new car seat. Additionally, as the infant grows he or she may outgrow the first forward facing car seat, requiring the purchase of another, larger sized forward facing car seat.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a child safety seat that will protect a child when the safety seat is installed in any seat in a vehicle, which may or may not be equipped with a passenger side airbag, the cradle of which is easily removed from the car seat base, has an ergonomically designed handle and provides a child safety seat that is convertible from a rearward facing position to a forward facing position.
The present invention improves upon previous attempts to overcome the disadvantages and dangers described above by providing improved occupant protection in all vehicles, with particular enhancement in vehicles equipped with a passenger-side airbag. The child safety seat includes an air bag deflector to deflect an expanding air bag away from the infant and absorb the air bag energy and any impact energy. The air bag deflector further incorporates a shock absorbent crumple zone to further absorb the deceleration and/or shock energies that might harm the child. The child safety cradle is released from the base and deflector using a single-handed release mechanism. This single-handed release allows the parent to release and lift the cradle simultaneously without stretching to access the release mechanism. The release handle is operated from either side of the cradle and incorporates independent child locks. These child locks must be engaged prior to the release mechanism operation. The child locks may be operated independently allowing use from either side of the cradle A fixed or removable handle incorporates hand grips designed to allow the cradle to be lifted straight up and then in a variety of positions and translate the forces exerted by the child""s weight ergonomically through the wrist and arm of the carrier, accommodating either left or right handed carriers. The child safety seat is convertible from a rearward facing position, best for infants, to a forward facing position that is better for a child.